|
|
|
The
Anonima
Lombardo
Fabbrica
Automobili company was established by Italian aristocrat Ugo Stella in 1909, who had previously been involved with the French Darracq company in Italy. He took over Darracq's factory at Portello
near Milan and began to manufacture cars. As the company grew it decided to use motor racing as a catalyst to further success. During the war years ALFA was taken over by Neapolitan businessman, academic and politician Nicola Romeo and became known as Alfa Romeo. In the years that followed the war, engineer Giorgio Rimini
found himself in charge of racing activities. The team raced with drivers such as
Giuseppe Campari,
Antonio Ascari,
Ugo Sivocci, and
Enzo Ferrari
with much success, and continued to be a major player in Grand Prix
racing up until the war. The height of Alfa's success was after the war,
where their 158 Alfetta dominated the field void of Germans Auto Union and
Mercedes, however there would be many problems during these years as well.
Alfa Romeo developed a reputation of being sloppy and dangerous, as their list
of driver deaths is among the most during the yearly years of Grand Prix racing.
Nuvolari
was sprayed by oil and burned during a race, and
Luigi Villoresi's
brother Mimi was killed in an Alfa, after which events both drivers claimed they
would never drive for the company again. Enzo Ferrari had a clash with
management and was dismissed in 1939, prompting him to create the most
successful Grand Prix team and sports car company in history. At the onset
of Formula 1 in 1950, Alfa was the top team and won the first two championships
by way of Nino
Farina and
Alberto Ascari. At the end of the '51
season the company could see Ferrari's team had surpassed it and decided to pull
out of F1.
Alfa Romeo commenced racing activities in the 1970's through sport
car racing, and by the end of the decade they re-entered F1 with a car for
driver
Bruno Giacomelli.
The 1980 and 1981 seasons saw some success, with 4 and 10 points respectively,
and having signed World Champion
Mario
Andretti for the
later campaign the team looked to be progressing nicely. The next three
seasons were met with continued moderate success, during which years saw the
arrival of Marlboro and then Benetton sponsorship, through which drivers
Andre de Cesaris and
Riccardo Patrese
worked with the team. Yet during the 1985 season the team's new car (185T)
was completed under poor circumstances and was not competitive. At the end
of the season the team figured it wouldn't see success in the near future, and
decided to exit GP racing again.
|
|
|
|
|